The NCAA Men's and Women's Fencing Committee has taken the first step toward enhancing the four regional qualifying meets for the national championships and the sport as a whole within the NCAA.

At its 2002 annual meeting, the committee recommended to officially designate the regional meets as the first round of NCAA championships competition and to add playing rules responsibilities to the championships administration duties it already has.

The committee made the recommendations after considering some of the major differences that currently exist between regionals. One of those differences is in the number of schools competing in each regional meet.

According to the 2003 NCAA Fencing Championships Handbook, there are only five institutions in the West Region for both men's and women's fencing. The Midwest Region has seven men's teams and eight women's teams.

In contrast, the Mid-Atlantic/South Region has 14 women's teams and 12 men's teams. Seventeen women's teams and 14 men's squads compete in the Northeast Region.

There are 144 participants in the national championships -- 24 in each of the six weapons (men's and women's épée, men's and women's foil, and men's and women's sabre). Out of the 24 positions in each weapon, 22 are allocated among the four regions based on a formula that includes the number of teams in the region.

The fencing committee selects the remaining two fencers in each weapon on an at-large basis. Among the criteria the committee uses to make those selections are fencers' finish in the regional meets, dual-meet win-loss record and strength of schedule.

"The big issue is trying to make sure that the best fencers are advancing to the national championships," said Jeff Cohen, athletics director at Brandeis University and chair of the Men's and Women's Fencing Committee. "The current criteria are not beneficial to the regions with fewer teams because they do not have the same number of regular-season opportunities due to the travel involved. In addition, their regional meets do not carry the same impact as the larger ones."

Encouraging participation

Another factor at work is the reluctance of some institutions to send their fencers to the regional meets, in part because it is not officially considered part of the NCAA championships. "The committee thinks making the regionals the 'first round' of NCAA competition will add to the stature of the sport and the championships, and give schools justification for sending their athletes," Cohen said.

The recommendation to certify the regionals as part of the NCAA championships also includes providing the four hosts with a stipend to help cover costs. Institutions that host the regionals have many costs to absorb, such as officials' fees and the rent on scoring equipment beyond what they use in regular-season meets.

Since the competitions are not considered part of the NCAA championships, the hosts are not receiving any financial assistance from the Association and are attempting to offset some of the costs through entry fees. "This move should encourage more institutions to consider hosting the regionals," Cohen said.

Playing rules a plus

Cohen also views the proposal to give the fencing committee the authority to adopt playing rules as another way to strengthen the sport within the NCAA structure. Currently, the United States Fencing Association (USFA) rules are the applicable rules for intercollegiate competition.

The committee has added rules, mostly dealing with the conduct of dual- and multiple-meet competitions, beyond those in the USFA book that institutions must follow in order for the results to be considered for selection purposes. Cohen believes that those are not being followed as well as the committee wishes, and that giving the group the stated authority to adopt rules might be a solution.

"I would estimate that the committee has no problems with 90 percent of what is in the USFA rules," Cohen said. "The general consensus is that there may not even be a need to publish a separate NCAA rules book."

The committee's proposals currently are in a holding pattern because of their financial impact. The NCAA is using a two-year budget cycle, and the 2002-03 fiscal year is the first year of the current budget.

Consequently, the committees that will address the recommendations first -- the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, the Division II Championships Committee and the Division III Championship Committee -- will not do so until their September 2003 meetings. If they are approved, the first year the regional hosts would receive a stipend from the NCAA would be 2005.

In the meantime, the fencing committee is attempting to address the differences among the regions through the use of a power ranking. Fencers would receive points for victories throughout the season, with the number of points dependent on an opponent's ranking with Féderation Internationale d'Escrime, the international governing body of fencing, the USFA and the NCAA.

The committee plans to test the power ranking for the 2003 championships and compare it with the current system. If it is successful, the committee will present the plan to the championships committees for approval.